


twelve days of tmi

by heartsinhay



Category: Avalon High (2010)
Genre: Dialogue, F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 14:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsinhay/pseuds/heartsinhay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allie's having weird Arthur dreams about wanting to kiss Merlin. Miles just wants to know if she thinks he's attractive, you know, objectively. Add in one weird vision and six flashbacks, and it starts to look kind of like the universe is conspiring to get them to make out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	twelve days of tmi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amathela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amathela/gifts).



_one_

“I’ve been having dreams about fantasizing about you.”

“Allie, what?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault!”

“Well, you have to admit that I am pretty attractive.”

“Never said that. And it’s not you, either, it’s _Arthur_. He sort of…”

“Sort of what?”

“Had a thing for Merlin. Not, like, a _thing_ thing, just, you know.”

“A fantasy thing, yeah, we established that. And that’s why you’re having fantasies about me?”

“I’m not having fantasies about you, I’m just dreaming about having fantasies about you.”

“Right, and that’s different how?”

“It just is, okay?”

“Huh. Weird.”

_two_

Heavy is the crown, and even heavier is the burden of committee. Allie is not opposed to ensuring that her reign is effective as well as just, but, at times such as this, with her advisers droning on and on, she cannot help but wish for a knight’s life of nonstop revels and rescues.

She does not fidget in her chair. That would be unbecoming of a king. She does, however, angle her gaze slantwise so that she is looking at Merlin instead of her latest petitioner. He sits in repose, still but for blinking. The sleeve of his cloak bunches up oddly. She wants to—to smooth it down, she supposes, and perhaps let her hand linger on his wrist, or, daringly, let her fingers brush his palm.

No. She may as well be honest with herself. She wants to unclasp his cloak entirely, and kiss the hollow of his collarbone, and unlace his tunic to reveal… She saw him, once, when they were questing and both had to bathe. There was no shame in it. They are comrades, after all, and there is no shame in it now as she thinks of…

Allie wakes up. Mr. Anthony’s just as boring as the councilmen were in her dream, and nearly half the class is asleep. God, she has to start investing in coffee or something.

_three_

“So, did you get a boner?”

“Miles, can you please not ask me these questions in class? I told you, like, two days ago. You can wait for twenty minutes.”

“Whatever. It’s group project time, nobody’s listening to us.”

“Miles, we aren’t even partners.”

“We’re always partners.”

“Well, not in Ms. Chang’s book.”

“So I’ll just work my magic on it and make us partners. Whatever. You didn’t answer the question.”

“I can’t get a boner. I don’t have the, you know.”

“Well, you don’t, but I’m talking about dream you. Arthur. Whatever.”

“Why would Arthur get a boner over you? Your eyebrows are kind of funny-looking.”

“Are you sure?”

“Okay, fine. Yes. He did. It was _so weird._ ”

Silence, then laughter.

“Oh, shut up.”

_four_

They are young, still, and she is but a year into her reign. Merlin finds no small pleasure in reminding her of that, inserting arch references to “our _new_ king, young and of little experience” whenever there is nobody important around to hear. He’s made a game of whispering these little insults when she is prevented from giving him the punch he so well deserves; at banquets, when he sits by her right attempting to look wise and mystical, all the while making snide comments about her guests’ clothing; before battle, ostensibly to spark her fighting spirit; on the ramparts, where all the castle would see if their King decided to strike her most valued advisor.

Today, though, she shall have her revenge. She’s planned her attack well: Merlin is walking down through an old, empty courtyard, ostensibly on his way to a clandestine meeting to discuss the latest trade developments with King Evan, and she’s in the second-floor chamber directly above him with a pot of water.

Allie times it carefully. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. And…

She throws the water out the window, drenching Merlin completely. He’s taken to wearing velvet lately, because he thinks it gives him a certain gravitas, and she feels a stab of ill-spirited glee as he attempts to disentangle himself from the damp fabric, spluttering as he tries to shake the water from his hair.

She laughs, and he tilts his head accusingly upwards, drenched fabric clinging to his slim frame. She doesn’t notice, or at least she tries not to, and when he mutters a curse that wicks the water away from his clothing and flings it at her window, she welcomes the distraction.

After all, she has eight more buckets and all afternoon.

_five_

“Are my eyebrows really funny-looking?”

“No! Of course not.”

“You didn’t even look at them.”

“Well, yeah, that’s because I see them every day. I think I might know your eyebrows better than I know my eyebrows.”

“Okay. That’s fair.”

“Glad to be of service. Now come here and help me design this poster. If I’m gonna run for student council, I need some better marketing.”

“Allie?”

“Yes, Miles?”

“Am I attractive?”

“Um, what?”

“I mean, objectively. Do you think I’m an attractive person? Not attractive as in hot or anything, just attractive as in someday someone could conceivably be attracted to me.”

“Uh…”

“Well, okay, if you’re not even going to lie to me—“

“Hold on a sec, okay? I have to think about this. And finish the detail on this lettering.”

Silence.

“Okay, I’m done.”

“And?”

“And sure, you’re plenty attractive. You’ve got… eyes. They’re nice eyes. They’re brown.”

“Okay. Cool. Thanks.”

_six_

They are pressed against ruined stone, her sword belt chafing her hip and the hilt of Excabilur caked red with blood. She’s got earth and dust in the chinks of her armor, and, although Merlin’s enchanted all his clothes to remain eternally pristine, his staff is notched and splintered. There are dark circles under both their eyes. There are more enemies than the two of them alone could ever hope to fight around them.

It is no matter. They have held Beacon Hill with eight men against an army. Her castle is safe. Her people are safe, if only for just a moment longer, and if the rest of her strategy works, Lancelot her successor will be King of all Britain. And if she were to be slain, she would rather it be with him.

She looks at him. He’s been out of breath ever since they ducked behind this wall, trying to recover enough energy, perhaps, to unleash one of the grand magicks for which he is famed. She says his name.

She’ll tell him. In this hour, before they are lost, she’ll tell him, right before they perish, and die knowing that he understands. She begins—

And Gawain’s horn sounds, signaling the arrival of reinforcements. She closes her eyes and listens to the thundering of a thousand horses’ hooves, then opens them, then stands.

This age has no time for lovers. There is the enemy to defeat, and an entire army expecting her to be their liege.

 

_seven_

“Anyway, what did you get for number eight? I thought it was cellular mitosis, but I could be wrong—“

“Of course you could.”

“Unlike you?”

“Well, obviously. I mean, I am a—“

“Miles! Miles, okay, deep breaths like we talked about, got it?”

“I just had a vision.”

“Yeah, I know that. What was it about? Is something wrong?”

“Ahem! No. Nothing. It’s just…”

“What?”

“It’s just, um, you’re going to buy a purple vibrator when you start living alone.”

“Oh. _Oh_. Okay, uh. Sorry _._ ”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll just… try and forget about it.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

“You know what, Miles?”

“What?”

“It’s really good that this isn’t weird. I mean, past me having a crush on past you, the vision you had… We’re not being weird about this. And that’s good.”

“Right! Yes. Exactly. Technically we’ve seen each other naked, but I guess that’s completely normal now.”

 “It might not be normal, but it’s not weird for our friendship or anything, right? I mean, once you go on a crazy reincarnation adventure with someone, you just can’t be weird anymore.”

Silence.

“Maybe it is weird.”

“You think?”

“We make a cute couple, though. Past me and past you.”

“Yeah. I mean, objectively speaking, we do.”

_eight_

It is a dastardly practice, being mortally wounded, and she really ought to stop it sometime.

She says as much to Merlin, who stands staunchly at her back, yelling her _bon mot_ over the moans of the risen undead. She hopes to all the powers in the world that the spell holding her innards together will allow her to stay upright, but although she will lean on her sword if needed, her injury remains inconvenient. Merlin replies with something indistinguishable, lost, as it were, in the wind and the wet sound of her plunging her blade into a body part she frankly cannot recognize.

Perhaps it is a neck.

It matters not. She has many grotesque creatures to slain, and glory to bring to her kingdom. Her intestines are mostly in the right place, which is comforting. She feels almost like a reanimated corpse herself, all the aches in her body faded to dull complaints, the joy in battle sapped by a day and a night of fighting these deathless creatures. Come sunup, they will be gone; she has enough trust in Merlin’s powers to trust in that.

A hulking monstrosity of a creature lunges towards Merlin, almost threatening to close its jaws over his head. Allie steps neatly around his still, chanting form and thrusts her sword up into the space between Merlin’s head and the monstrosity’s chin, prying it away from Merlin and stabbing through its spine in a neat, fluid stroke.

Not a moment later, her armor ripples with energy and she feels her tissue begin to knit itself together, the blood soaking from her bandages and dripping down the inside of her armor clotting as she stands.

The sun is nearly at the horizon. She can see it now, warm light rising from the edge of the world. Allie hefts her blade, and smiles.

 

_nine_

“They went _apple picking_ together. For a quest, but still.”

“Who?”

“Me and you. Well, Arthur and Merlin, but technically they are us, you know?”

“You know, I thought I was a lot cooler before I realized that I was basically married to you. I feel like at least one of me should have had a swinging bachelor life.”

“Well, we never actually got together.”

“Wait, never?”

“No. And I see everything through Arthur, so, like, I guess you could have had a swinging bachelor life, but for some reason I think that’s a little unlikely.”

“Never? But the apple picking! The fantasizing! And that quest where you basically almost died for me! Didn’t Arthur tell me he loved me once?”

“Nope. I mean, he was going to, and he said it kind of halfway, I guess? But then he decided not to and my alarm went off.”

“Okay, Allie, hate to break it to you, but, in a past life, you were a giant wimp.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Why didn’t you say it?”

“I don’t know. Because I thought Merlin didn’t feel the same way, I guess.”

“That’s stupid.”

“I know, right?”

“Why wouldn’t Merlin like him back? I mean, you’re… you.”

“Wow, that was the most half-assed compliment I ever heard in my two lives.”

“What, you want me to write a poem?”

“No!”

_ten_

She ought to be content with her lot.

She is king. The realm is at peace, except for when she decides to expand her territory. The people love her, especially those years where she makes enough in tribute to preclude the need for taxation. She has the greatest sorcerer in recorded history calling forth lightning to roast her pigs.

Merlin is here. Merlin will always be here, and he and Allie will always be allies and friends. The other things (the way he already knows all her jests, the easy rhythm they fall into on the battlefield, the twist at the corner of his mouth that she sometimes wants nothing more than to kiss away) are secondary, and if he wishes to exchange tokens with a pretty sorceress in training, that is naught worthy of her concern.

They are friends, though, and a friend would keep another from committing a terrible mistake. Allie does not trust Merlin’s new pupil, this Nimue, and perhaps soon she shall voice her concerns.

Perhaps not, though. King Leodegrace has a daughter, one she met a few summers ago while defending the Bretons. She could not help but notice Leodegrace’s daughter’s beauty, and it is rumored that the girl has grown into wisdom since.

Allie could arrange a meeting, if Leodegrace was willing.

Perhaps she will.

 

_eleven_

 “Maybe we should… just stop beating around the elephant.”

 “You’re trying to say “beating around the bush” and “ignoring the elephant in the room” at the same time, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Not like, literally beating an elephant. We’re supposed to be the good guys here.”

“Well, you nailed it.”

“Thanks.”

“So what’s the elephant in this hypothetical situation?”

“Us.”

“Ancient us or normal us?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Elephants are old. You could be subconsciously referring to our centuries-old counterparts.”

Silence.

“Miles, you know what? I’m going to try and do this logically. Remember when you asked me if you were attractive?”

“Yeah.”

“What if I asked you if I was attractive? But this time, don’t be objective.”

“Well, duh. Of course you are. Is that it? Did Merlin rejecting you make you feel insecure or something? Because, you know, my mom’s a psychologist—”

 “Okay, so moving on from how incredibly wrong that statement was, I’m attracted to you and you’re attracted to me.”

“I don’t know where you’re going with this, but yes, we literally just established that.”

“And, um. One more question. When you think about spending the rest of your life with someone, who do you picture?”

“You, obviously.”

“Yeah, same. I figured as much. Final question. If we dated and we broke up, do you think we’d still be friends?”

“Wait, we’re friends?”

“Oh my god, shut up!”

“You’re the one who keeps asking me questions.”

“How about you answer it, and then shut up?”

“We have been on more than one crazy reincarnation adventure. I’m pretty sure that’s a permanent bond.”

“Okay. Just wanted to know that.”

More silence.

“Wait. Allie, are you going to ask me out?”

“I may or may not have been working up to it. Why, do you want me to ask you out?”

“I guess you’ll have to actually have to ask if you want to hear the answer. I mean, I’m unpopular, not desperate, and—“

Even more silence, punctuated intermittently by wet slurping noises.

“Does that count?”

“Yes. Yes, it does.”

_twelve_

It’s not a dramatic epiphany.

There is no sudden realization, no halo of virtuous light, no backdrop of magical tower or crashing waves. Were this a poem, it would not be told.

She is leaning against the ramparts and speaking to him of nothing in particular. He makes a comment that is not as clever as he thinks it is, and she mocks several parts of his appearance, including but not limited to the gaudy stitched stars in golden thread on his hat and the straggly hairs on his chin, so unlike her own full beard, and by the time he pretends to shove her off the edge, both of them are laughing so hard that they can hardly stand. He nudges her with his shoulder, and she is suddenly painfully aware of the point at which his body has made contact with hers. Something rises in her throat, bubbling up like mulled cider, and she can’t help but think _oh._

_Oh, so that’s what it was. It’s been here all along._


End file.
